Watching the people get lairy/ Is not very pretty I tell thee

[loves_war]

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Everywhere
WHEN: The evening of March the 4th and through the night
WARNINGS: Violence
SUMMARY: The City has been saturated in haterade hate gas for days, and the emotions of those affected have hit critical mass. Rioting, fighting, looting, and heroism are all about to break out.
FORMAT: Whatever works

Comments

OPEN! fight against or alongside him, s'all good

[notadartboard]

As of about five, Sanji decided to close All That Jazz for the night. Not because of rioting or anything, but because he couldn't stand to look at the faces of his employees for a minute longer. It was bad enough he had spent the entire week screaming at Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp whenever he saw them, not to mention getting into scuffles with arrancar, but the kitchen at his club was starting to resemble Gordon Ramsey's tv show. Everything everyone else tried to cook was wrong, and Sanji was getting tired of snarling at them and throwing pots around. The minute another chef pulled a knife on him, he decided they had to close

[unastregadoro]

And with that, there will now be several stakes of light flying at Sanji to prevent him from wreaking any more havoc than he'd caused already. After some hesitating on her part, and more so due to guilt and all kinds of existential angst, Beatrice finally found it in herself to come out of her condo and see the results of her handiwork with the Major.

----Needless to say, it all got pulled off without a hitch. Good for the Major, Kkkkkkkinda for Beatrice. A part of her was filled with excitement and glee at the sight of all the chaos, the mayhem, and a pissed-off Sanji (who would make for a challenge), but another part of her was still with Bakura, who became a casualty as a result of her own selfishness and foolishness.

So now, she would have to do some damage control. But she's going to come off as arrogant and haughty as ever, letting out a loud cackle when she finally addresses Sanji himself:

"Hoh! Quite a change of heart you're undergoing, Sanji. I wonder...is this the real you?"

OHAI BEATO

[notadartboard]

It took some fancy dodging, dancing, and darting to avoid being skewered, but Sanji managed somehow, spinning his way back up the street a few yards in the process. He skidded to a stop and looked up, his scowl fading into a harsh, cold look. "You," he noted. "Miss Beatrice. Do you have a hand in this, or something?"

He straightened up and threw back his shoulders, glaring. "I won't hurt you. Come at me if you will but I'm not going to fight you." It was said through clenched teeth, but the anger raging inside him went completely contrary to his nature as the love-cook. He still refused on principle to hurt women, but it was getting harder to control the surface impulses and stick to his ethic. He hadn't harmed a single female so far. If Sanji wanted to keep his head, he had to maintain that tiny shred of civility in the face of unnatural rage.

'SUP SANJI

[unastregadoro]

Beatrice, deep inside, is a little taken aback by Sanji's newfound cold, harsh attitude---she's used to him semi-flirting with her, and she was honestly somewhat touched when he lended her a bit of moral support during the whole Keith fiasco and Bakura's demise. On the surface, however, she's all bemusement and smirks. She lets out a chuckle, saying coyly, "take a wild guess, my dear. All I can say is, the Major is a man of his word."

Indeed. She can see the unbridled rage struggling to force its way out of Sanji's subconscious. And she's going to make a game out of it. To forget. To forget all that she has done.

She will test the limits of his restraint, woman though she is. She snaps her fingers once more, and out come her spears of light---seven of them.

"Lock away that rage, that anger, all you like. It will only make your itch harder to scratch. Don't be silly, Sanji. At their core, humans are animals, and they will give in to their primal instincts

[notadartboard]

Sanji didn't know if those things were solid enough to be kicked away, so he simply dodged them, twisting and leaping and turning a handspring to get away. One barely missed, ripping through the loose folds of his winter coat a bit too close to his thigh. As his feet touched down, he considered whether to counter, but he squashed down the urge. It was logical, right? She could teleport and stand off too high for his reach, his style wasn't suited to fighting that. Taking a breath, he straightened up and looked around for where she had gotten to

[unastregadoro]

They are solid---as evidenced when Beatrice reappears (yes) above him, using a tile made of light to stand upon. Her expression is now unreadable, eyeing him critically and looking for a way to at least incapacitate him so she can get him somewhere where the effects will wear off. In the meantime, though, she raises her arms and yells:

"Arise, Shoulder Towers!"

...And with that, two gigantic towers made of light are summoned, glowing brightly as they charge up energy to unleash rapid fire salvos of arrows, swords, and stakes to keep Sanji away from her.

But, she manages a chortle at his remark. "Hah! I'm afraid you have the wrong impression. I was interested in him only for his intellect. But, as it turns out, he is a coward just like the rest who fancy themselves as worldly."

[notadartboard]

Oh, boy, these again. Sanji remembered them from last time. He also remembered that he could kick them all he wanted. Flying swords were easy to dodge, but the hail of arrows and stakes, not so much. He flung off his coat in mid-whirl to block a bunch of them and then launched himself whole-heartedly into the fray. As long as he wasn't anywhere near landing a foot on a lady's person, he could beat the shit out of everything and anything in his way, and so he did.

"Oh," Sanji said in response, gritting his teeth on his latest cigarette, "then you won't mind if I go and find the fat bastard and put my foot through his face." Good, a target would be good, something he could unleash all this pent-up rage towards that wasn't his crew. First, the towers, though, and they were not going to be easy. If he focused on one, he had the other at his back, and simultaneously dodging projectiles from both of them while moving in to kick them directly was stretching him to the limits of his agility and speed. It was exhilarating, though. He hadn't

[unastregadoro]

Guess what? She's going to fortify her towers' defenses----by yelling:

"Arise! Giant Soldier Battle Line!"

...Thusly, about ten golems come to save the day, charging at Sanji as he proceeds to make his way to the towers. Beatrice can't help but cackle a bit at all the blood flying from Sanji's person as he gets struck by the smaller, faster projectiles---he reminds her of a bull seeing nothing but red. Perhaps the sight of his own blood was angering him? Amusing.

"Oh, no. My business with him is done and will never happen a second time. He may have sparked my cooperation at one point, but he also sparked my anger by crossing a very fine line of mine. Tell me, Sanji...are you willing to kill a man for the sake of a child?"

[notadartboard]

One of the golems got him smack in the middle, sending Sanji flying into the nearest building. It took a minute or two, but then the rubble shifted and his lean figure rose up out of the debris, dusting himself off. He was quite a bit more bloodied, but that was generally how he liked it. He had heard her question before getting knocked back, but it wasn't until he was clear of the shattered wall that he could answer.

"It's never so simple, Miss Beatrice. You know that, right?" He wiped some of the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. "I have no problems killing someone, sometimes they don't even have to deserve it. But it's pointless to justify it by saying it's for anyone. If you're going to kill, it's going to be because you want to

[unastregadoro]

"Of course it isn't." Beatrice says, with a long, bitter, cold laugh. "Nothing in life ever is."

She watches as her golems get kicked into shards of energy, and her tower toppling to the ground. But Sanji was getting more and more battered and beaten, and that was enough. He had limits. He was only human.

...That comforted her, in a sense. Because it confirmed the fact that she, too, could still live as a human in spite of her previous endless existence, as befitted her former title of "Endless Witch." She could be human and actually exist without having to rely on the fickle sense of belief of mortals in beings like herself.

She was real here. Flesh and blood. As much as it limited her, it freed her at the same time. Staved off the loneliness, the distance. Fighting with Sanji like this...

...But yes. She had wanted to kill Keith Anyan before. She wanted to kill the Major now.

For revenge. Anyan reminded her of the hell that Kinzo had put her through; the Major reminded her of the hell that Lambdadelta had been

[notadartboard]

The powers Sanji didn't know he had allowed him to keep fighting for as long as he had the will, or until he was knocked out should that come first. He was aware of the strength, but not the stamina, and yet he didn't question it when he crashed to a landing on the sidewalk and was able to get up and keep going. He paused to light a fresh cigarette, since he had lost his last one when he hit the wall a little while ago. "Who do you need to justify it to?" he asked honestly. "Your reasons are your own. Only Marines and the like feel the need to claim 'justice' for their actions so they can sleep at night. Pirates?" He grinned slyly around the cigarette. "Pirates don't give a damn. If you want to kill someone in revenge, be my guest, as long as it's not me or my crew